The Green Mile

I read Stephen King’s “The Green Mile” the other day. I saw the movie some time back.

From the perspective of writer, King has the craft down. The guy holds your attention right from the start.

As a reader, I like books that make me think. This one does so. I am again struck by how dang hard it is to do right in modern society.

Maybe it has always been that way. I recall one time a case where I felt like someone’s persecution was for political reasons. I remarked to a musician friend, “I can’t believe they are treating him like that. I think the man is trying to do the right thing.”

He replied, “I don’t know, Doc. They did it to Jesus didn’t they?”

This guy didn’t have as much book education as I do, but I view him as much wiser. He was right. The truth is simple; the disingenuous have made it complicated.

But as my agent always said, “when you write try to search for what has always been true and does not change.” It likely has always been this way; we are just bad not to learn from history, and we keep making the same mistakes over and over.

In the case of “The Green Mile” I found some parties were in a spot where they were well-meaning and sensitive, and they cared, but because they were involved with this crazy human race just couldn’t figure out a way to make it right. I guess that is the long green mile we all walk, and all we can do is our best.

8 Comments on “The Green Mile”

I have always been incredibly fond of both the novel and its film adaptation.

I think truth is an important – perhaps the MOST important – part of writing. The question becomes, though, WHO’S truth? I’m engaged in the annual struggle to get students to understand that you and I may interpret a story (or a symbol, or a word) differently and come up with entirely dissimilar conclusions about it and that NEITHER OF US IS WRONG. They still don’t get that…

What a good take on it. To me the truth is we should all be tolerant of the truths that other folks arrive at in their journey. As long as someone doesn’t try to hurt me or my people over their beliefs and personal interpretation of truth I can get along with them.

Doc, I take it one step further than that; if you’re going to claim a “truth,” you’ve got to back that up with evidence that a reasonable person could concede – if not agree – to as support for that. I’m all about being open to interpretation, but “because I say it is so” has never flown with me, personally or professionally.

Chili,
It is the responsiblity of a society to educate citizens to be able to think critically so they can discern a truth from lie.

The Greeks had it right. It is only by getting others to question can they develop their abstract thinking so they get insight with problems. Without it we get confused.

Universal truths are what mankind seeks.

A complex math problem has only one answer. It comes with insight.

A fiction writer [or a poet for that matter] are teachers for the larger society so we can question our own concepts to arrive at more universal truth. Dr. Bibey has done an amazing job of writing a story that shows the medical and moral conflicts many face in today’s world. I hope if he writes follow up novels they will be as insightful as THE MANDOLIN CASE has been for me.